Pneumatic recuperator for recoil-guns.



PATENTED'MAY 5, 1908.

0. LAUBER 6v N. KOCH. PNEUMATIC RBGUPERATOR FOR REGOIL GUNS.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 30,1906v M l/llllnillllllabllldf/ UNITED STATES PATENT-OFFICE OTTO LAUBER AND NORBERT KOCH; OF ESSEN-ON-THE-RUlllt,

FRIED. KRUFP AKTIENGESEIQLSOHAFT, OF

PNEUMATIC RECUPERATOR FOR RECOIL-GUNS.

neY 886,615.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, O'r'ro LAUBER, residl ing at Essen-on-the-ltulir, llVest, Germany, and NORBERT Koen, residing at Essen-onthe-fltuhr, Germany, both subjects of the Emperor of Germany, have invented a certain new and useful Improv-ement in Pneumatic lecuperators for itecoil- Guns, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to the type of recoil-guns that is provided with a pneumatic recuperator comprising a displacer and a compressed air receptacle. In such pneumatic recuperatcrs a iston, working in a cylinder, forces liquid om the cylinder into a compressed air receptacle during the recoil of the gun-barrel, the piston and the cylinder forming together the so-called displacer, and, after complete recoil, the compressed air forces the liquid back to the displacer to cause the return of the gun-barrel through the medium of the displacer.

In the gun according to the present invention, the compressed air receptacle is of simple construction and capable of great resistance, the recoil-brake and the recuperator occupy but a small-space, and the relative arrangement ofthe parts is selected in such a manner that the recoil-brake and the recuperator can be placed in and protected by the cradle.

In the accompanying drawing, the invention is, by wa of example, shown applied to a gun in which the recoil-brake is a fluid brake.

Figure 1 shows the parts of a gun to which our invention relates, partly in vertical longitudinal section and partly in elevation; Fig. 2 is a section on line 2`2, Fig. 1, looking from the left; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 8, lig. l, looking from the left; Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4, Fig. 2, looking from above; and Figs. 5 and 6 are sections corresponding to those shown in Figs. 2 and 3 but of a slightly different embodiment.

Referring iirst to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 4, A is the gun-barrel which slides in the usual manner on the cradle B Within which is placed both the :fluid-brake and the recu erator.

The luidrake is of usual construction and consists of the brake-cylinder O, the piston D and the piston rodD. Grooves or channels (not shown in the drawing) are provided in the piston D or in the Wall ofthe cyl- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 30, 1906.

Patented May 5, 1908. Serial No. 314,570.

inder to allow the brake-fluid to pass lroin one side of the piston to the other.

The recuperator consists mainly ci the displacer cylinder E having piston F and pistonrod F, and a compressed air receptacle G in: thc :torni of a cylinder closed at one end. and having an air space 1l. llhedisplacer cylinder E is integral with the brake cylinder (l, the cylinders being made lrozn a single piece of material, and the cylinders are provided witli an integral annular screw- "hreaded lia-nge H (Figs. 2 and 4) by means of which the two cylinders are screwed into the coinpressed air receptacle G. The receptacle G is rigidly connected to the horn c ol the breech of the gun-barrel, and. the }j)isto1.1-rods D and F are screwed into a -plate J which closes the cradle B towards the front.

The displacer cylinder E communicates with the compressed air receptacle Or through the medium of a channel ln (Figs. 2 to 4) having a passage c leading' to the displacer cylinder and a passage 7a2 leading to the coinpressed air receptacle.

In the front part of the displacer cylinder Eis arranged a check-valve M N (Figs. l and 4) having its valve body M held on the seat N by a spring P. The closed valve does not, however, entirely cut oli the displacer cylinder, as passages n of small diameter are provided inthe valve seat N. The channel K and the part of the displacer cylinder E which is 1n front of the piston F is always filled with liquid, while the compressed air receptacle, when in the position of rest shown in Fig. l, contains in addition to they compressed air such an amount of liquid that the passage 7a2 of the channel K is immersed in iquid at any elevation of the gun-barrel, thereby preventing access of the compressed air to the stuffing box of the displacer cylinc er.

When the gun-barrel is in the osition of rest the several parts of the Huid rake and of the recuperator assume the relative position seen in Fig. l. The compressed air receptacle G, and the brake-cylinder O and displacer cylinder E, which are rigidly secured to the receptacle G, take part in the recoil movement and return movement of the gun-barrel, while the piston-rods D F and pistons D F remain stationary due to their rigid connection with the cradle B.

The mode of operation of the fluid brake during the recoil and return movement has ceptacle G througl'i the paseage c, the channel K an d the passage c, the compressed air .1n the receptacle (l being thereby 'lurtlier con'ipro..

o. When the recoil-energy el the reeoiling parte is exhausted, the compressed air expands andv forces the .liquid out 'from the receptacle. (l. Ae the ehecltfvalve M N ie closed when the liquid. llo :e back, the liquid. must pass inte the displacer cylinder lll through the narrow passagers 'nf and the liqu id is consequently throtth-ul te a considerable extent and acts as a brake during' the return oi" the gun-barrel, the return being,l el'ected by the liquid forcing the dieplacer pieton F back to its position el" rest.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and G di'lifers from the one just described merely in having two displaeer cylinders .E 'from which the liquid, on the recoil el the gunbarrel, is lorced through two passages le' into a connnon channel K and from there into the compressed air receptacle G. By means of this construction We obtain an absolutely ceptacle lor compressed an' and a dieplacer arranged. within Said reeeptacle and cominunieating therewith, and a brake cylinder arranged witliin the Compressed air receptaele.

V The foregoing` peciieation signed at Duseeldm'l, this 'fourteenth day of April, 1906.

OTTO LAUREE.. NORBERT KOCH.

ln presence oi- ALFR. PonLivinYnn, 'PETER Rinnnn. 

